The Key of Forever
by Antonio Cabaas
Summary: The sequel to Trek to the Hellmouth.
1. Prologue

**The Key of Forever **

_by Antonio Cabañas_

**Prologue**

**Disclaimer:** Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas.

Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site (look at my profile if you want to see the address).

**Spoilers:** Big spoiler for Buffy season 5 finale. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

**Author Note 1:** This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

**Author Note 2:** for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time. Unfortunately, he is not available at this time, so this 1st chapter will have its good share of errors.

**Answer to Reviewers: **

Please, review!

**Summary:** Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and _something_ happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past…

* * *

_Lykandia System. Starbase 580. __Stardate 49581.9_

Captain Antonia Castro of the USS Corsair was enjoying a good meal in the Starbase lounge when she noticed that somebody had left a PADD on her table. She looked around but she couldn't see anybody near the table. She got the PADD and examined it. On it, scribbled faintly over the polished surface there was a number that she recognized, because it had been a recognition code used by the Watcher's Council. She took it gingerly and read it. The news was very bad.

'Oh, Karen.' she thought. 'How could I reach you in time?'

She looked around and noticed a familiar sight at that Starbase, a human accompanied by a tall, shaggy humanoid, who boasted of owning the fastest ship in two galaxies. This was one of the areas open to people from "the other side", after all. She got up and walked to them.

"Captain Solo, can we speak for a moment?" she said when she reached them.

_A Sunnydale Cemetery. 06/22/00_

The tombstone read "Elizabeth Anne Summers. 1980-2000. She saved the world a lot.". That final joke brought a sad smile to Angel's lips.

"Hi, Angel." said a familiar voice.

"Hi, Dawn." He said without turning to face her. Not for her, but for her company.

"Hello, Angel" said the Buffy-Bot in a voice so similar to the real Buffy that he had to reassure himself that Buffy was dead.

"It isn't too late for you to stay here?. The Sun is going to rise in a few minutes." asked Dawn, concerned.

"I have my car parked in front of the gate. Don't worry, Dawn."

"Look who is here! Mr. Tall, Brooding and Handsome in person." said Spike. Angel hadn't heard him coming.

"William, that joke was funny the first time, but you have repeated it everytime we met, last year."

"Spike. Thanks to you, I'm not William anymore."

"Do you think that I don't know it? I'm responsible for your existence, through Drusilla's. All the murders that either of you have done are on my conscience."

"Shut up, you two!" said Dawn, hitting Buffy's tombstone. "This isn't the place for one of your fights."

They both looked at Dawn, and Spike glowered at her.

"What?"

"Your hand…" said Spike, his voice suddenly strangled.

Dawn looked down and saw a few drops of blood flowing from her broken nail, just as the Sun started to rise over the horizon.

"Uh, oh" was the only thing that Dawn managed to utter before the energy vortex swallowed the three of them, leaving only a very confused Buffy-Bot.

_Deep Space Nine. Stardate 49582.1_

The station shook suddenly when Sisko was arriving at the Operations Room. He could barely keep his feet on the ground, something that most of the people there couldn't copy.

"Dax, report!" he shouted.

"It's some kind of temporal anomaly, captain! It suddenly appeared, emitting a wave of energy!"

"On screen!"

The trill science officer quickly complied, although at first there was nothing on the screen. Then slowly, a blue light appeared at the center on the screen, pulsating with an almost heart-like pace. Seemingly insubstantial at first, soon it began to coalesce into a shape. The shape of an starship.

"Dax, what can you say about that?"

"The instruments register an object in the center of the anomaly. But I can't determine its mass, density or even what is it by what the instruments say." she looked at the screen and added "I think that just now it's a moot point."

The object was clearly visible now, although it was enveloped in a blue glow that wavered at intervals.

"Constitution-class. Refitted configuration." Sisko was the first to identify the ship that appeared on the screen. "Dax, magnify the image. We need to identify the ship."

"It's not necessary, Ben. I have just isolated a faint Federation transponder signal coming from the anomaly." said Dax "USS Agincourt, NCC-1724. That doesn't make sense."

"Why is that, old man?"

"There were two Constitution-class USS Agincourt. Both destroyed in battle, without the shadow of a doubt."

_USS Agincourt bridge._

Dawn was the first of the three to regain consciousness. She found herself on the side of a cramped room, with people standing everywhere. No, they weren't standing, she corrected herself. They were paralyzed in mid-action, and judging by what she could see, things weren't good. The environment looked somewhat familiar, and the people were clad in some kind of uniform consisting in a maroon jacket, black pants, and a colored turtleneck sweater under the jacket. Over the left breast they wore a insignia… that insignia… it was similar to the one that the guys from the future that appeared last year wore. Could have they landed in a… how it was called? Spacefleet? No, Starfleet. They seemed to have fallen into a Starfleet ship.

"You have awakened, good. Now, can you explain what you have done to the ship?" said a voice that sounded eerily familiar. Dawn followed the sound of the voice and, sitting before a console between two doors, was Tony Castro, wearing the same type of uniform as everybody else, and with a gun-like device in her hand, aimed toward her.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. Chapter 1

The Key of Forever

by Antonio Cabañas

Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas. Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site, which address can be found in my profile.

**E-Mail:**borg31de777yahoo.es.

**Spoilers:** Spoilers for Buffy season 5. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

**Author Note 1: **This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

**Author Note 2:** for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time.

Answer to Reviewers:

_Amber Penglass:_ I hope that you are reading this also, because I'm answering your "Trek to the Hellmouth" reviews here. When I started the story, I was writing according to the formatting that I knew,the one that is standard in my country. Later I changed, but reformatting the story is going to be a long work that I don't look forward to do.

_Cow as White as Milk:_ I hope that you didn't got disappointed.

**Summary:** Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and something happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past…

* * *

Deep Space Nine.

Captain Sisko returned from his office to OPS with a grimmer expression than before.

"I gather that the Department of Temporal Investigations had been…" commented Jadzia Dax.

"Not now, Dax. Any luck with the historical research?"

'The DTI must have been more abrasive than usual.' thought Dax. "Okay, Ben. In 2285 the second Agincourt, still fresh from drydock, was ordered to intercept the Enterprise,which had been hijacked by Admiral Kirk…"

"Yes, the Genesis incident." Then he remembered something "Hmm…, wasn't Torias assigned to Spacedock by then?"

"No, the shuttlecraft accident happened before that." said Dax.

Sisko didn't press further. After Torias' death, Dax was joined to Joran, a serial killer. After Joran was caught, the memories of the six-months joining were erased from Dax memory, and the symbiont was joined to Curzon. The

resurfacing of the memories, the year before, hadn't been a pleasant experience for Jadzia.

"Continue, old man." ordered Sisko

Jadzia nodded and continued the exposition.

"When the ship tried to go to warp, she… disappeared."

"How could a ship disappear?"

"Apparently an imbalance in the intermix chamber provoked a wormhole effect that launched the ship to a place not too far from here." explained Dax. "Several months later, the battered ship got back to Federation territory."

"Dax, wouldn't it be possible that the wormhole effect had moved the ship in time as did in space."

"It's possible, Ben. But if that is the case, how is that the records still list her reappearance?."

"Beats me. Keep scanning the anomaly, Dax. If something changes I want to know it ASAP." Then he thought of somehing. "Get a list of the crew of the USS Agincourt and have it sent to me. I have to talk with the DTI about an idea that I had just had."

"Understood, Ben." answered Dax. "By the way, what did the DTI say?"

"They are going to send somebody that is in the area, controlling an experiment with tachyons or something like that."

"The Caravel, right?."

"Yes, how do you know it?"

"I talked with Len Henderson last night, and he said something about the 'joys' of having DTI agents on board."

"I bet." answered Sisko, smiling for the first time since he had entered OPS.

USS Caravel. NX-73200. Bajor sector.

The tall, red-haired woman entered the conference room, followed by another woman, dark-haired and shorter.

"Sorry for the abrupt call, captain Henderson. But the DTI called us about a Priority One Emergency on DS9, and we are the closest DTI agents to the station. So…"

"One moment, Agent Silver. The terms of this mission specify that Dr. Richards has to approve every possible modification of our course. Terms approved by the DTI. I wonder what you people want so badly about his research to accept those terms." said captain Leonard Henderson "But that's none of my business. What it is my business is to know the nature of that emergency. Last time that my ship was involved in a Priority One Emergency called by the DTI, we run into the Borg and half of my crew was assimilated." 'Including myself.' He refrained from adding that,

but everybody could hear the words as if they had beem spoken aloud.

"Sorry but you don't have the credentials to see it."

"But I have, Agent Silver." said a female voice from the door. Upon hearing it, Silver's companion grimaced, and Silver herself gulped. Looking pretty well for a sixty-four years old woman, Admiral Mariska Szell, head of the Starfleet Bureau of Special Research, and overseer of Dr. Richards project had just entered the room.

USS Agincourt. Bridge

"Don't bother to check your friends. They are dead." said Tony.

Dawn didn't answer, still trying to figure out what had happened to them. Obviously they were in the future, and by chance, (or maybe not, with the PTB's you couldn't be sure), they had found one of the few people who they knew in the future… if it wasn't for the annoying fact that she didn't seem to recall any of them. She decided to try it anyway.

"Tony, don't you remember us?"

"How do you know my name, girl? And why I should know you?"

"May of '99, you and the Enterprise travelled back in time…" and Dawn stopped when the idea hit her. They could have travelled to a point in time before Tony knew anything about the supernatural.

"Time travel?." Said Tony, now more annoyed than angry. "Tell me, from what era was that other me?"

"They said that were from the 24th…"

"The 24th Century. Damn. It was her."

"Her? Not you?"

"My older self. The woman that I have sworn to myself not become."

Millenium Falcon. Lykandia System.

"Are you mad? I saw what happened past year when two Star Destroyers tried to jump away from the system. I don't know how your people managed to deploy mines in the hyperspace, but I'm pretty sure that I don't want to know." said

the smuggler-turned-freedom-fighter when Tony finished explaining his plans.

"Captain Solo,I designed the minefield, and I know how to evade it." assured Tony Castro to the captain "Although we'll need a few assorted knick-knacks that I have in my ship."

"What kind of knick-knacks?."

"Oh, things that every Starfleet Officer has in his private collection." said Tony with a crooked smile "Things like a portable antimatter power supply, a portable transporter pad, a cloaking device…"

"Oh, yeah, and I suppose that you don't have also the Death Star plans in that collection."

"Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a bit, but it's true that I have a cloaking device in my possession. A relic that I obtained from an old friend. And the rest is easily obtainable if you have full access to the computer of a

Federation starship"

Sunnydale. California. June 22nd of 2000

Giles let Xander and Anya enter the Magic Box without a word. There they saw Willow frantically connecting something to a computer.

"What has happened?"

"It's Dawn. She insisted, very early in the morning to go to Buffy's tomb. I prepared the Buffybot to go with her, and half an hour later, I have the Buffybot in the door, saying something about blood and an energy vortex. "

"Uh-oh"

"Exactly what I said. As I couldn't get anything clearer from it, I disconnected it and extracted the 'black box'."

"A 'Black Box'? Like the planes?"

"Yes, I had to improvise some things to connect it to my computer."

"Ok, Wills. And what has happened?"

"See for yourself."

The scene in the graveyard played out to them in the monitor.

"Damn." said Xander.

"Exactly my thoughts." Said Willow

Aegis Consultors office. New York. June 22nd of 2000

"The same signature?" asked the older woman

"Exactly the same but much weaker, Roberta. And in the same area of the original. An small California town called Sunnydale." answered the other woman.

USS Caravel. Year 2372.

Agent Silver entered her quarters in good spirits. Admiral Szell, and later Dr. Richards and his blonde bimbo of a wife, had agreed to change plans and go to DS9. Now after all these years, her Mistress could be freed with help of the Key.

****

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. Chapter 2

****

The Key of Forever

by Antonio Cabañas

__

Chapter Two

****

Disclaimer: Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas.

Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site, which address is in my profile.

****

E-mail: borg31de777yahoo.es

****

Spoilers: Spoilers for Buffy season 5. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

****

Author Note 1: This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

****

Author Note 2: for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

****

Author Note 3: Yes, there have been a long time since the last update. I had problems with my computer and I couldn't save the data until very recently.

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time.

****

Answer to Reviewers:

Please, review!

****

Summary: Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and something happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past.

__

USS Agincourt, NCC-1724. Denorios Belt. Bajor system.

"So, what do you know about me?"

"What you said... will say... aargh! I have always hated temporal paradoxes stories!"

"At least you haven't found another version of yourself. That's something that I don't want to repeat, thank you." said Tony, smiling.

"Why don't you tell me something about you... the current version of you, at least."

"Well, did my other self tell you about the accident that threw me into the 23rd Century?"

"Yes."

"That happened nine years ago, and after five years of adapting to the new times, I enrolled in Starfleet Academy. I did my four years there, served in a couple of training cruises, including the one that got us into this mess."

"Eh?"

"A long story. Well, I graduated a month ago and ended as a junior science officer in this ship, the USS Agincourt. It's brand new, without even a proper shakedown cruise, that was what we were going to do when new orders came, we had to intercept a hijacked ship. We departed from drydock, and just after we started the warp engines, all hells broke loose, and suddenly everything was like are you seeing now. And then you appeared."

"You have reasons to be suspicious of us."

"Who are the corpses, by the way?"

"Angel, Spike, if you are awake..."

Angel opened his eyes and rose, brushing his clothes.

"Hello, Tony, it has been a long time."

"Do I know you?" said Tony, confused.

"Not yet."

"You were dead when you arrived, how it is possible...?"

"I'm a vampire."

__

USS Corsair, NCC-1721-C. Lykandia System

Captain Antonia Castro hauled the last box into the cargo transporter pad. She had packed all the things that they were going to need into three standard Starfleet containers and beamed up to the Millenium Falcon. She had left this box for the end, partly because it was bigger than usual, and partly because of its content, a Klingon cloaking device, from the Bird of Prey that Jim had stolen so long ago. Scotty had managed to smuggle it into a hideout where it had been for more than 80 years, waiting for the return of the old engineer. He had given it to her last year, when they had needed it to smuggle Spock out of Romulus for the second funeral of Jim Kirk. It was almost too small for cloaking the Corsair, but it would be enough for cloaking the much smaller Millenium Falcon. She start to operate the controls, her back to the door when she heard a familiar, and very unexpected voice.

"What are you doing, Tony?" asked Commander Korg Ramírez, first officer of the USS Corsair, and the captain's lover.

__

USS Caravel, NX-73200. On route to DS9.

Admiral Szell let the two security officers enter her quarters. Apparently, those two men were only part of the security detail posted to protect Richards and his research. In reality, Dr. Richards and his team were perfectly able to defend themselves, and the real reason for the security detail was to bring these two men on board with faked Starfleet credentials.

Odd how things developed. At the beginning of the past year, shortly after the disastrous contact with the Dominion, Tony Castro had come to her with a bunch of extradimensional refugees, and when the full situation had been explained, she had been tempted to threw them out. Now she was trusting two of them, without counting Dr. Richards team, with her career, and maybe the life of everybody on board, including her daughter.

"I suppose that this meeting has been called for the temporal anomaly in Deep Space Nine." said the raven-haired man.

Szell never ceased to be amazed of this man's skill to discover things that were supposed to be secret. He would have been a excellent detective on his world.

"What do you know exactly of the phenomenon?"

"Only what you said to Reed, and what he had found hacking the main computer." answered the blonde one.

"In other words, everything."

"More or less."

"Well, here is something that you don't know. When the Agincourt returned to Federation space in 2286, the commanding officer, commodore Matthew Wilkins, delivered a sealed report to Starfleet Archives. A common practice after specially hazardous missions. What wasn't so common was that Commodore Wilkins had set a very specific date for unsealing it, today. The content was encrypted and adressed to the Director of the Starfleet Bureau of Special Research."

"You."

"Exactly."

"And what did the message say?"

"See for yourselves." She said, picking an isolinear chip from a nearby rack and inserting it in a portable player.

__

Magic box. Sunnydale. Year 2000

"And what we do now?" asked Xander.

"There is a location spell that we can use. It's usually utilized to locate demons and other..."

"The Eye of Acheron, right?"

"Yes. How do you know it?"

"A Russian witch used it to have me located, and launch curses to me for several months, after I killed his son. He was a real womanizer, and his wife desired him to be castrated, and he died by blood loss." They didn't asked what happened to the witch, mostly because they didn't want to know. "But I thought that you needed a personal object of the subject to locate."

"I sent Tara home to bring one."

As if summoned by the mention of her name, Tara came, carrying a small object in her hands.

"Here it is, a music box that Dawn bought last month."

"Why the music box? Why not some clothes or...?" asked Giles.

"Given Dawn's... special background, I don't want to take risks." answered Willow, while she drew a mystical sign in the ground with chalk.

"Willow, are you sure of this? I mean, the Eye of Acheron is almost black magic."

"But it isn't. I'd never fall into practicing black magic." Said Willow.

__

USS Agincourt, NCC-1724. Denorios Belt. Bajor system

"Hold it for a moment. I can accept that vampires are real, but that you are a mystical energy source?" said Tony to Dawn.

"Said by the woman that was transported almost three centuries into the future, and was changed into some kind of superwoman."

"OK, OK. You have a point. Well,maybe..." she started to say when the ship trembled.

__

Deep Space Nine.

"Ben!" shouted Dax from the science station.

"What's happening, old man?"

"The pulsing of the anomaly. At first I thought that was regular, but the periods are degenerating. In a few days, the anomaly would cancel itself, plunging the Agincourt completely into our time and removing her from the timeline."

"Is there any way to prevent that outcome?."

"I'd need clearer readings from the anomaly."

"I'd talk with agent Silver." Said Sisko, grimacing. Clearly, he didn't want to talk with the abrasive DTI agent so soon.

__

A Sunnydale graveyard

A young woman materialized in a column of blue mist in the narrow space between two mausoleums. She looked around, and produced from her handbag a device which looked like a pen. She twisted it one way and talked:

"Roberta, do you hear me?"

And a voice came from it.

"Loud and clear, Rain. The point of origin of the disturbance is thirty meters to the East and twenty to the North from your position. According to the records there is nobody buried there."

The young woman walked toward the point saying to the device:

"The records must not have been updated in a while because there is a tombstone here."

"Curious." commented Roberta from their headquarters in New York. "Well, I'll examine the area through your servo."

While Roberta analyzed the data with the help of the alien supercomputer hidden in their office, Rain looked at the tomb, wondering who would be buried there.

When she read the name, she couldn't believe her eyes. She kneeled and touched the name, as if she needed to convince herself of the reality of what was written there.

****

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4

**The Key of Forever **

_by Antonio Cabañas_

**Chapter Three**

**Disclaimer:** Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas.

Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site, which address is in my profile.

**E-mail:** borg31de777yahoo.es

**Spoilers:** Spoilers for Buffy season 5. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

**Author Note 1:** This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

**Author Note 2:** for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time.

**Answer to Reviewers: **

Zantac the Barbarian: thankks! And I hope that you won't be disappointed by the lateness of this update (but you are going to get two chapters in a row).

**Summary:** Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and something happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past…

_Magic Box. The present_.

"By this blood, I bind my spirit and the owner of this object together." said Willow, letting a few drops of blood fall on Dawn's music box, blood that came from a small cut that she had just done to herself with a small knife. "Air spirits, listen to this daughter of Gaea, the Mother Earth! Show me the whereabouts of my bound spirit!"

The music box started to glow, forming an orb of energy around it. At first, it was only a mass of swirling colors, but soon cleared, showing Buffy's tomb.

"Damn!"

"Why did you say that?"

"Because the Eye of Acheron would show Dawn, even if she had fallen to another dimension or ended up at the other side of the Universe." said Giles. "The air spirits had only managed to show the last place where Dawn was."

"Where's Dawn, then?" asked Anya

"Look, who's that woman?" said Tara, who had been looking at the orb.

Giles, Xander and Anya looked back at the orb, which now showed a young woman with a pen in her right hand, kneeling before Buffy's tomb.

"Can this thing transmit sound?" said Xander

Willow, who had been busy maintaining the spell, nodded and said a few hushed words. Suddenly the vision in the orb started to speak:

"…she was a friend of my sister Amanda, a blonde airhead cheerleader, you know the type. But in her last months in L.A. she… grew up emotionally. We became sort of friends, but then something bad happened at the prom, her parents divorced and she and her mother moved to Sunnydale. I tried to keep in contact with her, but I started to work at the SETI lab by then, a very absorbing job. Later I started to work with you, and you know what happens."

"Oh, yes." said the voice of an older woman. "Remember, I was in your shoes for 28 years."

"Who is speaking?" asked Xander.

"I think that the pen is some kind of radio." said Tara

_A Sunnydale cemetery_.

"Well, what does Beta-6 have to say?" asked Rain.

"According to this snotty machine, there are strong transdimensional readings in a six-foot radius around the tomb. The frequency matches what we detected earlier." answered the older woman from their New York headquarters. "Can you look around for footprints?"

Rain looked around and saw immediately what Roberta was pointing at. Four sets of footprints came from, and only one came back.

"Two of the four sets of footprints are from men, who came of different directions; one of the other two is from a young woman and the other from a girl."

"The heat traces say that the footprints of the two men are hours older than the other two."

"That's impossible, because one of the men walked over the girl's footprints..."

"The only explanation would be that their bodies were several degrees colder than normal humans."

"Aliens?"

"Your servo only register traces of human DNA there… one moment, put the servo very close to the young woman's footprints."

"Why?"

"Plastic, signs of small electric discharges, lubricant, trace amounts of rare metals… but not a trace of DNA or organic matter from the body…"

"An android?"

"Yeah, and the strangest thing is that the girl's footprints give the strongest traces of transdimensional readings."

"Do you think that the girl carried a transdimensional transporter?"

"I think that the girl WAS the transdimensional transporter. There are some anomalies in her DNA… of the same type that one could expect if she wasn't born, but directly made from a direct energy-matter conversion. A Q or some other advanced race trying to be inconspicuous, or maybe something totally different from what we have seen until now."

"So, what we do now?"

"Simple, follow her trail."

_Bridge of the USS Agincourt. Year 2372._

"What was that?" asked Dawn after the tremor subsided.

"I don't have any idea." said Tony "Since this started, nothing works."

"Why have we light then?" asked Angel.

"Life support in critical areas like the bridge is run by a totally independent system… That's it" she said as she bolted out of the chair.

"Eh?"

"Follow me!" said as she opened a panel on the wall, next to one of the doors.

The door opened, revealing a circular, vertical conduit. She carefully, stepped inside, on a ladder that ran through the walls of the conduit.

_DS9. Station Commander office._

"Very well, captain Sisko. You can use the Defiant to examine the Agincourt, but I want to monitor the mission through a subspace holo-link." said DTI agent Sylvia Silver from the screen.

"The Defiant is still not equipped with..."

"I know, captain. But, you chief engineer can jury-rig a holoemitter on the bridge and connect it to the communications console. Am I wrong?"

"No, but it'll be a huge drain..."

"Not if you leave out the force-field emitters, Captain. That would suffice."

_USS Corsair. Lykandia system_

"I need the cloaking device, Korg. I can't tell you anymore." said Tony as she started to rewire the cargo transporter.

"Why?"

"Part of it is top secret stuff, and the other part would get you a court-martial."

"You, too, Tony."

"I have a duty, Korg. Take care of the Corsair while I'm away, love." she said as she stepped into the rewired cargo transporter, next to the cloaking device box..

"Be careful"

She smiled as she and the box disappeared in the transporter effect.

_USS Caravel. Agent Silver's quarters._

The DTI agent opened her eyes. She had been communing with her Mistress, and together they had sketched a plan. First she had to recruit some minions. She removed the belt of the civilian outfit that she had been wearing ever since she boarded the ship, as her reflection in the mirror simultaneously disappeared.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5

**The Key of Forever **

_by_ _Antonio Cabañas_

**Chapter Four**

**Disclaimer:** Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas.

Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site, which address is in my profile.

**E-mail:** borg31de777yahoo.es

**Spoilers:** Spoilers for Buffy season 5. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

**Author Note 1:** This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

**Author Note 2:** for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time.

**Answer to Reviewers: **

Please, review!

**Summary:** Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and something happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past…

_USS Agincourt_

"Take this." said Tony, handing several tricorders and communicators to Spike and Angel. Dawn and Tony were already carrying a few.

"Wait a moment! I'm not going to walk another step until you explain what are you going to do with these... these damned sci-fi props!" said Spike.

"Well, I suppose that there's no time like the present. When I was speaking with Dawn earlier I realized what had happened. Plainly speaking, the warp drive malfunctioned, and somehow every living being in the ship became frozen in time. The main reactor is tied to the warp drive, so everything that was receiving power from it is also down. I can give you a more technical explanation if you want." answered Tony, in a quiet tone.

"That explains what happened, but, not what are we're going to do with all of this."

"I don't have enough technical expertise to reroute power in the ship, but I can build a crude sensor and communication grid with the tricorders and the communicators."

_Other side of the Lykandia Anomaly_

"U.S.S. Anchises to freighter Millenium Falcon. You have permission to depart the system." said the harsh voice of the Anchises captain through the Comm system.

Solo cut the channel and spoke to the woman who stood behind him.

"What now?"

"Make a light-year-long jump and later make a series of microjumps. Enough to get back here in less than an hour."

"And, why, exactly?"

"Because we are going to use the Anchises as our exit ticket. Their shift on this side of the Lykandia Wormhole ends in 1 hour 15 minutes. Afterwards they are scheduled to deliver a shipment to a nearby Federation planet. We'll hitch a ride through the minefield, and disengage just before they go to warp."

"And you are going to be here all the time looking over my shoulder."

"No, captain Solo. I'm going to be putting everything that I transported here in use to refit this hunk of junk."

_DS9. A corridor_

"Ben!" said Jadzia Dax running through a deserted corridor in the bowels of Deep Space Nine toward her old friend and current commanding officer. "I have something about the Agincourt crew."

"Let's see, Old Man." as Jadzia gave him a PADD.

"The Agincourt departed drydock with a skeleton crew. Less than one hundred people for a ship that normally had a complement of five hundred."

"I see... Commanding Officer... Commodore Theodore Wilkins... Executive Officer... Lieutenant Commander John Harriman... One moment, John Harriman?"

"Yes, the first captain of the Enterprise-B. But read the next entries, please."

"Acting Science Officer... Lieutenant junior grade Antonia Castro... Have you tried to get in touch with her?"

"Yes, but she is on leave, personal reasons."

"Okay, Helmsman... Lieutenant Samuel Grant... Ambassador Grant?"

"The same. I asked him to wait for us in the Defiant docking pylon."

And as they turned the corner they saw him. Samuel Grant was standing next to the door, grinning at them.

"Wonderful." said Sisko with his teeth clenched. Dax and Grant were old friends, but he could never stand him.

_USS Caravel._

The security chief of the USS Caravel was about to enter the ship's lounge when she almost collided with her right hand, Mathew Croydon, chatting amiably with the arrogant DTI agent, Sylvia Silver. When Mathew realized who it was, the boyish face of the ensign turned pink from the embarrassment.

"Sorry, chief. I was..."

"No offense, Matt." she said, forcing a half smile. The DTI agent had remained aloof from the crew since the beginning of the current mission. Why suddenly had she become so friendly with Croydon?.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Chapter 6

**The Key of Forever**

by Antonio Cabañas

**Chapter Five**

**Disclaimer:** Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas.

Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site, which address is in my profile.

**E-mail:** borg31de777yahoo.es

**Spoilers:** Spoilers for Buffy season 5. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

**Author Note 1:** This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

**Author Note 2:** for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time.

**Answer to Reviewers: **

Please, review!

**Summary:** Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and something happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past...

_Sunnydale._ _Year 2000_

"It's odd, I can't find any document certifying that your friend Buffy is dead." said Roberta through the servo. Rain had connected special headphones to it, so she looked as if she was listening to a walkman inside her clothes.

"Next street to the right." said a dry male voice through the servo. Roberta had called one of their 'agents' to follow the trail of transdimensional readings and guide Rain, while she went through the records of Sunnydale.

"OK, Mestral." answered Rain. The alien had proven to be a great asset to their team, although he still gave her the creeps sometimes. "This is Revello Drive... Revello Drive? Buffy lived on this street."

"This is getting weirder and weirder.." Said Roberta.

She kept walking until Mestral told her to stop. She was standing before the house at 1630 of Revello Drive.

"And this is Buffy's home."

_USS Caravel's Lounge._ _Year 2372._

"Lieutenant Prince?" said a voice behind her.

"Who is it?" answered the security chief of the Caravel, leaving her bottle on the table, and turning her face to the man talking to her. "Ah, hello, Mr. Rogers. Sit down please." She said to the lieutenant who was part of Dr. Richards's security detail.

"Thanks, Lieutenant."

"Call me Xena, I'm off duty."

"But I'm not. And now that you mention it, you look like Lucy Lawless."

"Few people know about Lucy Lawless in this time. Are you a 20th Century buff?"

"Sort of."

"Well, you mentioned that you were here..."

"Yes, Admiral Szell sent me to warn you about Agent Silver."

"Well, I don't like DTI agents, but..."

"If our information is correct, Agent Silver is not what she seems to be. But we have only that information, no proofs. That's the reason why we have come to you, and not to Agent Kovacs."

"Why don't you investigate by yourselves?"

"What do you think that Mr. Wayne is doing? Admiral Szell thought that two sets of eyes see more than one."

_Agent Silver's quarters_

Sylvia Silver let the body of Croydon fall to the ground, while she removed the bloodstained blankets and threw them to the trash disintegrator. He would stay there for a few hours before he rose as a new vampire. She washed the blood fom her face, and picked up a tricorder. The subdermal chip that she had implanted into Croydon was working perfectly, and she programmed it to let the ship's sensor think that Croydon was sleeping. She dressed. Then, she programmed the door to privacy mode, so nobody could enter now.

She went to the nearest holodeck, where the hololink with the Defiant was going to be established. When she entered, she was surprised to see only the holodeck grid. She quickly called to the bridge.

"Captain Henderson, I thought that the hololink with the Defiant was going to be established in Holodeck 2."

"I was going to call you. The Defiant had called, they are having some technical difficulties." Answered the captain. "And they want to tell you that they have one of the former Agincourt senior officers on the station. They want him to join the on mission."

_Defiant Bridge_

"You are already eating, Sam?" asked Dax when Samuel Grant entered the bridge, munching something.

"Of course. Sajins have a very high metabolism, you know." answered the ambassador when he had guzzled whatever he had in his mouth. "Well, where is that DTI agent? I thought that you said that she would be here in holographic form."

"We are having some technical difficulties, but she had already approved your presence in the mission." Said Sisko before Dax could answer.

"That's odd. I thought that the DTI wouldn't want me here at all cost. After all, I'm there also." he answered "Well, never look a gift horse in the..."

"At last!" said O'Brien from under a console where the contraption that would establish for the hololink was resting.

Suddenly Agent Silver materialized to the right of Captain Sisko.

"Finally!" she said, relieved.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	7. Chapter 7

**The Key of Forever **

_by Antonio Cabañas_

**Chapter Six**

**Disclaimer:** Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas.

Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site, which address is in my profile.

**E-mail:** borg31de777yahoo.es

**Spoilers:** Spoilers for Buffy season 5. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

**Author Note 1:** This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

**Author Note 2:** for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time.

**Answer to Reviewers: **

Superfan: 1. and 3. When I created them, for a post-ST VI fanfic that I hope to go back to it some day, the sajins were an homage to Dragon Ball saiyans, although as I developed them they started to evolve into a different direction

**Summary:** Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and something happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past…

_Maquis Ship Lafayette, on route to Miller's Planet_

"Ion, if something happens I'll be in my quarters." said Karen Johnson to the young Romanian helmsman as she was exiting the small bridge of the converted freighter.

On her way to her quarters, Karen thought about their mission. They had to contact a weapons dealer on Miller Planet, and buy weapons for the Maquis. Very straightforward and simple in appearance. But she had a bad feeling about the mission, something that she couldn't explain.

"Still chewing the same bone, I see." said a very familiar voice behind her.

"Jeff, please don't surprise me like that" said Karen recognizing the voice of her second in command "Since we started this mission, I'm more tense than a drumskin."

"If you felt so badly about this, why did you volunteer?"

"That's a good question. "

_USS Agincourt. Fore observation deck._

Dawn, Angel and Spike had passed the last minutes seeing how Tony disassembled the gizmos that they had taken earlier and assembling a contraption hooked to a TV-sized screen in one of the walls.

"Tony, if this is an observation deck, why there are no windows?"

While hotwiring a tricorder to a communicator, she answered.

"They are behind the left bulkhead. It's a security measure for relatively big open areas like this in case of an energy shutdown in the ship, so if there is a hull breach, the air couldn't escape." answered Tony without lifting her eyes from the device in her hand. "Done". And she started to look for something in the left wall.

"What are you doing now?" asked Spike. "You said that those two were the last things that you had to connect."

"Of course, but Dawn had reminded me that sometimes there is no substitute for direct observation." She managed to open a small panel near the corner, and pulled a small lever. Silently, the bulkhead started to rise, revealing a starry vastness. Dawn and Angel looked at the breathtaking view with awe, while Spike looked toward other side. But Tony's Starfleet-trained eye was the first one to discover that they were not alone there

_USS Defiant. Bridge._

"No luck contacting Captain Castro, Lieutenant Dax?" asked agent Silver.

"No more than the last time you asked, agent Silver." Answered captain Sisko before the annoyed Trill could answer. "I have spoken personally with Commander Ramirez, her first officer. She disappeared suddenly this morning, only leaving a message that she was taking a leave for personal reasons."

Jadzia Dax repressed a sigh of relief. The obnoxious DTI agent had been bothering her since the hololink was established about the whereabouts of Captain Castro, while almost ignoring the fact that another former officer of the Agincourt, Ambassador Grant, was there. And there was something that was puzzling her. She had the feeling that she had met Silver before, but she couldn't recall when and where, and that, for a Trill, was distressing.

Agent Silver was delighted to see that her careful preparations had been rewarded with success. Antonia Castro was the only one that could recognize her, from their encounter in the early 21st Century. Her Mistress would have been pleased to see that the Key was again at her fingertips.

"Captain! I have detected a scan! From the Agincourt!" said Jadzia

"How is that possible, Dax? I thought that the ship is powerless."

"It is, Ben. But I have seen this kind of scan before... Well, Curzon did see this kind of scan before."

"I'm listening, old man"

"In a diplomatic mission into Klingon space in the Agincourt-B, the ship was hit by a cosmic string, and the sensor grid was totally disabled in the midst of an asteroid field. Commander Castro, the first officer, built a crude sensor grid with tricorders and communicators, and that way we could escape the field."

"Ah, yes. I remember Tony telling me that incident a few weeks later, when the Agincourt and the Corsair were docked in Starbase 52." said Ambassador Grant. "She always had a knack for Engineering. One time, in the Ogark nebula, when we were together in the Corsair..."

"Sorry, Ambassador. But we don't really have time for reminiscing." said Agent Silver. "What could they have learned about us from that scan?"

"Not much. Even with a boosted signal, the interference from the anomaly would have prevented them from receiving a clear signal."

"That's a relief. " said Agent Silver. "But not a long one. We'll need to contact them in a way that precludes temporal contamination." Going by the book was the easier way to avoid suspicions. The next hours were going to be critical to her plans. That Admiral was clearly suspicious of her, and the other DTI agent, Kovacs, was too clever for her own good.

_USS Caravel. Auxiliary Computer Junction._

Lieutenant (j.g.) Gabrielle Queen's boredom was cut short when the security chief of the ship appeared

"Xena!" she exclaimed and jumped to the arms of the older woman

"I'm also glad to see you, Gabby." said Xena Prince, returning the hug. "But it is your computer skills what brings me here, not the pleasure of your company."

"Oh. Well, what do you want from me?" she answered, going back to the ground.

"I need a background check on all our 'guests'."

"Meaning?"

"Dr. Richards team, Admiral Szell and her security detail and the two DTI agents." After a moment, she added "Something doesn't look right about Agent Silver, and one of Admiral Szell people warned me about her. I want this to resemble a routine security measure."

"From an slightly paranoid security chief, like yourself."

"Of course, I have my reputation, to think of. I would do it myself, but if I still have problems programming the replicator, I don't want to know what would go wrong if I tried." Said Xena "But be careful, I don't want you getting in trouble if the DTI or the BSR..."

"I know, I know." She dismissed it with a gesture. They knew each other too well. "Come back in an hour. I'll have it ready."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Key of Forever **

_by Antonio Cabañas_

**Chapter Seven**

**Disclaimer:** Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters were created and are owned by Joss Whedon. Star Trek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. Star Wars and everything related with it is property of Lucasfilm Ltd., and was created by George Lucas.

Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site, which address is in my profile.

**E-mail:** borg31de777yahoo.es

**Spoilers:** Spoilers for Buffy season 5. Spoilers for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact and Deep Space Nine until season 4.

**Author Note 1:** This story is a sequel of the story "Trek to the Hellmouth". If you don't want to read it, here is a quick resume: After the events in Star Trek: First Contact, the Enterprise-E is relaunched, but remains of Borg technology aboard launch the ship back in time toward the moment when Buffy killed Adam. Adam becomes a Borg, but he quickly comes to dominate the Collective. But the time paradox in progress start to opens the Hellmouth. The Enterprise crew, guided by Tony Castro, an admiral that was invited to the launching and had contact with the Watchers and the Slayers in the past, contact the Scoobies, and the events began to take a rollercoaster ride from there: the Borg Queen reappears, from the Hellmouth emerges the Mirror counterpart of Admiral Castro, Adam devises a plan to absorb the energies of the Hellmouth, destroying Earth in the process. Finally with the sacrifice of Mirror Tony they destroy Adam and close the Hellmouth.

**Author Note 2:** for the nitpickers, this story takes place shortly after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Sons of Mogh".

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix, for his help and support through all this time.

**Answer to Reviewers: **

William Fakespeare: Thanks!

**Summary:** Dawn visits Buffy's tomb and something happens. "Meanwhile", in the 24th Century, Captain Tony Castro discover a very unsettling thing, and Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine witness a real blast from the past…

_Sunnydale. 1630 Revello Drive. Year 2000_

Rain quickly hid the small flesh colored device inside her ear. It would allow her to hear everything that Mestral would discover in the headquarters about the people that lived there. It was almost undetectable but it didn't allow for the clearer reception of the earphones. She walked across the street and knocked upon the door.

A red-haired young woman opened the door. She looked to be about Buffy's age.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Buffy Summers, I thought that she lived here." said Rain, telling the story that she had concocted for her presence here. After all, they had no way to know that she already knew about Buffy's fate.

"Sorry, she died a couple months ago." answered Willow. "And you are?"

"I'm sorry to hear that. My name is Rain Robinson. I was a friend of Buffy back in L.A."

"Willow Rosenberg." Said the redhead offering her hand. Rain heard through the concealed earphone how Mestral started to search references about the young woman. Everything was proceeding as it should. "May I come in?"

Willow let the woman pass through without inviting her. Although she was pretty sure that the woman was human, you can never know who else could be listening. She closed the door and walked behind the woman.

_USS Caravel. Auxiliary Computer Junction. Year 2372_

"Well, I'm back" said Lt. Commander Xena Prince, Security Officer of the USS Caravel. "What have you found.

"A lot of strange things, where do you want to start?"

"Start with the more normal ones and leave the weirdest things for the end."

"Ok, Agent Kovacs is the daughter of Admiral Szell, although they aren't on good terms. Something related with the death of Szell's husband."

"That explain the tension between them when they are in the same room."

"Yes. There is nothing more about them. Now, the members of the security detail are pretty much run-of-the-mill security officers, except Lieutenant Wayne and Lt. Rogers. They and the members of Dr. Richards team share a very odd characteristic."

"And that is..."

"They seem to have appeared from nowhere 16 months ago. I can only gather that they are refugees from another time, or something like that."

"Ok, and Agent Silver?."

"She seems to have appeared from nowhere just before joining the DTI. Oh, there is a file about her prior life, but it's forged, and not very well."

"Why would the DTI let her join their ranks then? They are even pickier than Starfleet, by Zeus' sake!"

"I think that the DTI forged the documents themselves. They obviously wanted her very badly to do that."

"But why?"

"That's your job, Xena, sorry. Even if it's there I don't think that anybody could enter that deep in the computers of the DTI without being detected."

"Don't worry, Gabby. Agent Silver spent the night with Matt. I'll ask him about her."

_Defiant Shuttlepod 15_

Finally they had agreed that the best option would be taking a shuttlepod into the anomaly and making contact with whoever was there, using spacesuits that would hide their identity.

"So, chief, tell me again why we have been chosen for this?"

"Would you like Worf to handle it, Doc?"

"Hmmm, rather not."

"You are not excited about this?" asked Jadzia incredulously. "I mean, it's a Constitution-class starship!"

"And..." said Bashir

"Come on, guys. These vessels opened the final frontier. The first true starships of the Federation."

"I thought that the NX class were the first starships." answered Bashir.

Jadzia smiled at him, the kind of smile that one would give to a less-than-brilliant pupil that had made a very easy error.

"We don't have time for this." said O'Brien "Jadzia is right, by the way"

"That's two to one, Julian."

Dr. Bashir sat down sullenly in his seat during the rest of the travel, as they neared the coruscating bluish glow that surrounded the old starship.

"Fasten your seatbelts." Said Jadzia as she piloted the small pod into the anomaly. "This is going to be a bumpy ride."

_USS Agincourt. Observation deck_

Tony checked the batteries of the only two phasers that hadn't been used to build the sensor grid. They were fully loaded. She picked a tricorder, and put one of the phasers in her belt

"Stay here." said Tony as she opened an maintenance hatch. "I'm going to see who are they and what they want."

_Millenium Falcon. Ouskirts of Lykandia system._

The Millenium falcon disengaged its magnetic clamps from the hull of the USS Anchises.

"And now?" asked Solo, joined by a growl from his big and hairy companion.

Tony opened a box and produced a tricorder.

"Jump to these coordinates, and here is a good starmap of the space between here and there. Don't worry, all the info is at most a few hours old. I downloaded it from the Corsair computer just before coming here."

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
